Prosecutor looking into arrest of special cop in Clifton gun thefts

CLIFTON — Passaic County Prosecutor Camelia Valdes on Thursday said she was instructing her staff to determine whether she should intervene in a Clifton Police investigation of an alleged handgun theft by a special police officer.

Clifton police charged Nayeska Bermudez, 36, a special police officer working in Guttenberg, with theft of firearms this month but initially withheld information about her arrest. Documents released Thursday also showed the police charged her with a third-degree crime, which is an indictable offense and punishable by up to five years in prison. Bermudez was issued a summons to appear in Municipal Court. She was released without bail.

Valdes said her office was not involved in the case and had not been notified. "I'm not familiar with it at all, because it's not here," she said, meaning a case file is not in the prosecutor's office.

Valdes said that while she did not know the details and didn't cite specific issues, she was concerned about how the case was being handled. Valdes said she would instruct Paul DeGroot, an assistant county prosecutor who handles public integrity cases, to contact Clifton Police today.

Documents released on Thursday showed that Bermudez, a Clifton resident, was accused of stealing two 9mm Glock handguns from a Union City police officer who also lives in Clifton. The guns were not recovered.

The Union City police officer from whose home the weapons allegedly were taken declined to comment. Bermudez could not be reached.

On May 15, The Record reported that Detective Sgt. Robert Bracken confirmed there was an ongoing investigation into a complaint police received about a theft of firearms in Clifton. He declined to release details of the case, saying that criminal charges were being considered. However, a booking sheet obtained last Friday through a public records request showed that Bracken had arrested Bermudez and charged her on May 8. Police are required to release certain information to the public about arrests within 24 hours.

On Thursday, Bracken told The Record that he did tell a reporter that charges had been filed during the May 14 interview, and that a summons had been issued, but that he was compelled to withhold key details about the case because it was under investigation and because it may have involved domestic violence.

Bracken disputed that he was the arresting officer, saying he didn't know how his name was listed as such on the booking sheet. He said he was "involved in the investigation" but that his detectives "worked the job."

Documents provided by City Attorney Matthew Priore list Bracken as the lead investigator and complaining party in the case.

Police Chief John Link was not available for comment on whether the investigation was being properly handled.

The motive for the alleged gun theft remains unknown. But it's apparent that Bermudez has had a close relationship with the police officer from whom she is charged with stealing the guns. "You look great, Hottie!!!" she wrote in a comment on a photo of the man on Facebook. "I wonder who took such a nice pic. … Lol."

Michael Caliguiro, Guttenberg's police director, said Thursday that an internal affairs investigation was under way but he could not comment on whether Bermudez had been suspended. She became a special police officer in January 2013 and remains employed, he said. Special police officers are part-time officers, sometimes paid by the hour, who often are assigned by departments to parking and traffic enforcement.